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Research Results

Work associated with the second year of my ACS-PRF grant (PRF No. 46649-B2) has been completed.   The three most interesting findings related to my work thus far include:  1)  two potential unconventional natural gas sources in New York State (NYS) – the Flat Creek member of the Ordovician Utica shale and the Union Springs member of the Devonian Marcellus shale – have been geochemically characterized; 2) a Neodymium isotopic study of Ordovician and Devonian black shales of NYS indicates that the Canadian Shield was the dominant provenance of the northern Appalachian Basin during this period of time; and 3) trace element geochemical trends in shales appear to persist through medium- and high-grade metamorphism.  Key collaborators on the project have been Drs. Christopher Kendall (University of South Carolina), Neal O’Brien (SUNY Potsdam), Brian Cousens (Carleton University), Lawrence Aspler (Grinnell College), Robert Rainbird (Geological Survey of Canada), and Wayne Powell (Brooklyn College).  Four students (Wendell Caesar, Joseph Chiarenzelli, Cody LaVack, and David Mosher) have been supported by the grant this year.  Three student presentations, involving four students (Maina et al., 2009; Marvinney et al., 2009; Mosher et al., 2009), related to the project were made last spring at the Northeastern Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland;  two associated professional presentations (Kendall et al., 2009; Hassan et al., 2009) were given at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists in June in Denver; and two student presentations are planned for the spring northeastern section meeting of the Geological Society of America in Baltimore.

Impact on Student Learning and Training

During the second year of the project, four undergraduate students worked with Dr. Chiarenzelli.  One student, David Mosher, is currently completing a senior thesis on the geochemical and textural characteristics of the Marcellus shale. This summer, he was supported by a St. Lawrence University research fellowship. Another student, Wendell Caesar, was supported by a Supplement for Underrepresented Minority Research (SUMR) to the PI’s ACS-PRF grant.  Wendell worked closely with David, who served as a competent peer mentor, on the geochemistry of the Utica shale.  Joseph Chiarenzelli, who was supported by the ACS-PRF grant, prepared samples for analysis, and compiled and reduced data for the research team. His culminating project was an Excel® spreadsheet used to produce graphs and ratios used in our shale geochemical analysis.  Cody LaVack, who was also supported by Dr. Chiarenzelli’s ACS-PRF award, worked on the geochemical analysis of local medium-high grade pelitic gneiss (Popple Hill gneiss) in an effort to understand the effects of metamorphism on shale geochemistry.  All four students participated in a culminating experience at Carleton University in Ottawa during which they analyzed the Neodymium isotopic systematics of NYS shale samples.  Two of the students (David Mosher and Wendell Caesar) worked with Dr. Neal O’Brien (SUNY Potsdam) on the textural characterization of shales using SEM techniques. 

As previously mentioned, David Mosher is currently completing his senior thesis on the geochemical and textural features of the Marcellus shale.  Wendell Caesar plans to apply for a McNair Fellowship[1] to continue his work on the Utica Shale next summer.  Cody LaVack is currently finishing his work on the Popple Hill Gneiss as a senior project and has started a GIS project compiling numerous sources of geological data in the Plattsburg area with Dr. David Franzi (SUNY Plattsburgh).  Joseph Chiarenzelli has begun a detrital zircon study of the Potsdam sandstone.  Three of the students intend to enter graduate programs in geology.

Changes to the Research Plan

The original research plan of the project has been modified to allow greater student participation and to match summer and academic year schedules.  For example, Dr. Chiarenzelli and his research students have focused considerable effort on local New York shales.  The Devonian Marcellus shale and Ordovician Utica shale are considered to have enormous potential for hydrocarbons, particularly natural gas.  Much of the textural work planned as part of the project has been postponed because of equipment issues; however, Dr. Chiarenzelli is the PI of a new grant award from the NSF that is enabling St. Lawrence University to purchase a new scanning electron microscope (SEM).  The new SEM will arrive later this week and will soon be available to address the textural characteristics of the shale units studied by Dr. Chiarenzelli and his four student researchers.  In the meantime, David Mosher and Wendell Caesar have worked closely with Dr. Neal O’Brien (SUNY Potsdam) to learn SEM preparatory techniques and how to interpret the textural features of shales.  Finally, the team has broadened their study to include a Neodymium isotopic study of Ordovician and Devonian shales with Dr. Brian Cousens at Carleton University in Ottawa.  The intent was to determine the source and possible temporal changes in the northern portion of the Appalachian Basin.  The data is exciting and has some important constraints for the provenance of these unconventional gas source rocks.

Dissemination of Results 

In order to disseminate the research results, presentations have been given in various venues (America Association of Petroleum Geologists and national and sectional meetings of the Geological Society of America).  More are planned for the spring northeastern sectional meeting of the Geological Society of America to be held in Baltimore.  By May, David Mosher will have finished his senior thesis on the Marcellus shale and at least one paper will be derived from his work.

Future Plans

Future plans include the continuation of the project with emphasis on:  1) compilation, analysis, and presentation of our data; 2) preparation and analysis of samples from the Marcellus and Utica shales in NYS for textural analysis via SEM; and 3) summary of the research group’s work for various journal articles.  Much of this work will take place in 2010 while Dr. Chiarenzelli is on sabbatical.